Demons in the Night
by L-chan the Great
Summary: Sasuke is a young demon, searching for his first contract, and seeking to destroy his incubus brother, shame of the family, along the way.  Sakura, thinking she's found true love, has no idea what she's gotten into. Currently on Hiatus...
1. Chapter 1

Something about Sasuke attracted her. In fact, it attracted almost every girl in Konoha. Perhaps it was the intense, dark look in his eyes, or maybe the "devil-may-cry" attitude he treated everyone with. He was talented, smart, and cool. Whatever it was about him that enamored so many girls, he was nonetheless swarmed by them. He often had difficulty going home through the thick throng of girls, praying for him to even breathe within a five mile radius from her. Sakura wasn't bothered by any of these girls. Sure, they were after the same boy she was infatuated with. They were just fan girls, she assured herself. No competition at all. All the other girls simply admired him as a celebrity, star struck by his fame, especially since he was the last surviving Uchiha. She couldn't feel threatened by the masses, because she had what they didn't. Love. Pure, honest-to-goodness love. Every morning, she nearly skipped to the Academy, thrilled to see her dear Sasuke's face. Sometimes, she was brave enough to speak over the sound of her pounding heart to greet him, and he would look at her—straight into her soul—and greet her as well. Every day of the Academy was pure bliss, as long as Sasuke was there. And he always was. She would expect nothing less of the top rookie of the year.

Her only problem was Ino. The confident blond infuriated Sakura to no end. Ino had the uncanny ability to appear just when Sakura thought she might get to talk to Sasuke, one-on-one, and then the mood would die. However, Sakura saw it as more of a test of time, than an actual competition. To put it nicely, Ino was completely boy-crazy, while Sakura had eyes for one person. Sakura loved Sasuke more than anything, and a small crush never won in the face of true love. So she took the brunt of Ino's attacks in her former best friend's attempt to sway Sasuke, and fought just as fiercely. Sakura absolutely refused to let Ino mislead her love, even for a second. She vowed to protect his heart, never stopping once to wonder if he wanted her to protect it. When Sakura was put on a team with Sasuke, she felt as if she were rising from the Earth; and right into Heaven. Even if she was also on a team with Naruto. That hyper-active boy just didn't know when to quit. He always picked fights with Sasuke, and he always lost. Sakura just couldn't understand the hatred Naruto felt of Sasuke. They were always fighting over something.

Just like they were as they waiting for Kakashi-sensei that morning.

"Let's go, Sasuke! I'm going to pound you into the dust!" Naruto boasted proudly, making Sakura roll her eyes. Where did he get all that false confidence from, when he always lost?

"Like you did the last time we fought? Face it, idiot, you're never going to beat me," Sasuke replied, standing in a relaxed stance, his arms crossed casually. He glanced over at Sakura and gave her a smirk that said, 'This idiot is hopeless'. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks and nodded a little too vigorously.

Naruto pointed at Sasuke aggressively. "Watch it! I'm going to wipe that smirk right off your face! Believe it!" he vowed, using his trademark phrase.

Sakura sighed loudly. "Oh, come off it, Naruto. You know you can't beat Sasuke. He's simply too good," she said fondly, looking over at Sasuke as she spoke. He wasn't looking at her, however, and she felt her heart drop a little in disappointment. She was hoping he'd give her another glance. Just one more.

"Sakura!" Naruto whined. "What's so good about this jerk? He's not that strong! He just got lucky because he was born with a stupid advantage!"

Sasuke smirked. "I don't have to use my Sharingan to beat you anyway. I could do that with one hand tied behind my back. Idiot." He gave Sakura another glance, nearly causing her to faint in happiness.

Naruto lost his temper. "I'll destroy you! Believe it!" he declared, and shot off like a bullet in Sasuke's direction. Whatever Sakura though about Naruto, she had to admit he was fast. She was sure that he could tear a person apart with his speed alone. Not Sasuke of course! Sasuke leapt into the air as Naruto came at him, and swung his foot hard to Naruto's chin once the distance closed. Naruto flew into the air, flipping in a way that would make a professional gymnast cry with envy, and sprawled on the ground. Even half-winded, he still managed to get to his feet (perseverance was another one of Naruto's qualities that left Sakura in awe of him, even if she did think he was a stubborn idiot).

"Guys, will you stop it already? This is stupid!" Sakura called out to them. They were probably going on a mission today, and they would be too tired to be of any use if she let them fight as they usually did.

They paid her no heed, and were about to go at it again when Kakashi finally made his grand appearance.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, there was this pretty girl struggling with a heavy box, and, as a gentleman, I was obligated to help her," Kakashi explained in one of his famous excuses.

"Gentleman, my ass," Sakura muttered under her breath.

"What was that, Sakura? I couldn't quite hear you," Kakashi asked, cupping his ear with one hand.

She forced herself to smile. "Nothing at all, Kakashi-sensei!" she said, her voice dripping with sarcastic sweetness.

"You're always late, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted, pointing at their tardy teacher to punctuate his statement. Sasuke remained silent, like he always did.

Kakashi decided to ignore Naruto's accusation and Sakura's sarcasm. "I thought you three would be excited today, since we're going on another escort mission," he informed them.

The three of them tensed just a little, Sakura most of all. "Another escort mission?" she asked, as if she couldn't quite believe it. A small tremor ran through her body as she remembered how Sasuke had nearly died, and how she was so useless every time they encountered an enemy. She didn't think she could handle another mission like that. Sasuke gave her a strange look that she couldn't quite read. It seemed almost… Excited and eager, but not in any way that she could think of. The look frightened her a little, but she shook it off. Sasuke was probably just excited about the mission, with none of Sakura's reservations.

"Don't worry; it's not going to be like the last one. We did some extensive background check, and assessed the importance of the person in question. It's just a child who came to visit his father in the village, who is a ninja. His father had to go on a mission before the boy could go home, so we're going to make sure nothing happens on his way home," Kakashi assured them.

Naruto groaned. "Aw, that's so boring!" he whined.

Sakura punched his in the head. "Shut up, you idiot! I, for one, don't want to go on any more 'exciting' missions for a long while!" she said. Sasuke gave her another look.

"That's probably because you're weak," Sasuke told her. His cold words froze her blood and her heart stopped. Weak? She knew she wasn't strong, and she was almost useless in the field, but somehow, hearing the love of her life say those cruel truths hurt worse than her self-realization. She looked away from him, fighting back the tears stinging her eyes.

"What the heck, teme? Why did you say that to Sakura?" Naruto jumped to her defense. His quick response embarrassed her even more than being called weak by her crush did.

Sasuke made a noise that sounded like he didn't really care how Sakura felt. "I'm just telling her the truth, so shut up, dobe!" he retorted.

Naruto looked as if he was about to start another fight. "That's no reason to hurt her like that! Sakura is really smart, and nice, and she really cares about you!" he said.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "I don't need anyone 'caring for me'," he said. "I need to get stronger, so I can kill that person. Hanging out with weaklings like her isn't helping me."

Sakura wanted to run away, to get away from the hurtful things her beloved Sasuke was saying. Her feet remained rooted to the ground, every muscle in her body tense, as if preparing for a physical attack in addition to Sasuke's verbal one. A small buzzing in her ears blocked out nearly every sound, except for Sasuke's voice. Her head spun, until she thought she would pass out.

Naruto was preparing for another retort in Sakura's defense. Somehow, she found her voice just enough to snap, "Naruto, just shut up! I don't need you to defend me, idiot!"

He immediately fell silent. Sasuke smirked at his cruel victory. Sakura caught her breath and immediately felt sorry for yelling at Naruto. He was just trying to help her, and she was such a bitch to him. Later she would apologize and mend things, but at the moment she focused on not breaking down into a sobbing mess, and giving Sasuke hard evidence of her emotional weakness as well. She needed to stay strong, at least until night fall.

Kakashi gave a short cough to remind the trio that he was still present. "Anyway, we leave in two hours, so make sure you prepare appropriately. The journey will take about a weak there, and then another week back. Pack lightly," he advised.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura forced herself to say. "Why do we need to escort this boy home? Can't he just wait in the village until his father comes back from the mission, and then go home, or his mother picks him up herself?" she asked.

"I don't really know the details," Kakashi admitted, "but I do know that the father is on an extensive mission, and for some reason, the mother is very anxious to have her child home as soon as possible. As for why she can't pick him up herself, I don't know." He shrugged, putting an end to the speculation.

"See you three here in two hours."

Sakura could barely concentrate as she gathered her things. She just couldn't get her mind off of Sasuke's cruel words. Somehow, she needed to get stronger, if only for Sasuke's sake. Every day, she would train, and practice her jutsu, so she could at least be average in Sasuke's eyes. After the escort mission, of course. She needed to save her strength and chakra for protecting the boy from whatever dangers might befall him. Regardless, the mission shouldn't be too tough. The most difficult part would be the fourteen days required to get there and back, plus the amount of time they stayed at the client's house to recover. She frowned. It was strange that they were going so far for a mission that it took seven days to get there. Usually, the longest distances were two days on foot. Wasn't there a hidden village closer to the client? She shrugged it off. Rather than fret over insignificant details, she should be looking forward to spending the next couple weeks with Sasuke. A weight in her heart prevented her from doing so, and she sighed. Maybe things would get better during the mission.

After packing, she went into the kitchen to bid farewell to her parent, a daunting task considering their dispositions. While her father was a ninja, who'd encouraged her to enter the Academy, her mother was a civilian, who was convinced that Sakura would die if they were apart for more than five minutes.

"Bye, mom and dad. I'm off for my mission," she said, entering the room.

Her mother immediately burst into tears and wrapped Sakura in long arms. She felt suffocated with maternal love. "Oh, be careful, Sakura! Come home safely, ok?" she wailed.

Sakura gingerly detached herself from the worried woman. "Don't worry mom, it's just a simple escort mission. No enemy ninjas. It'll just take a while to get there and back. Besides, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei will be there," she reassured her mother.

Her dad fixed her with a stern look. "You be careful and protect yourself from those boys! You don't know how a man will get when he's away from any other women for an extended amount of time!" he said.

Sakura blushed heavily. "Dad! They aren't like that!" she protested. Then she remembered Kakashi-sensei's fixation with Icha Icha Paradise, and silently corrected herself that her sensei might actually be the type of man her father feared, but decided to keep that information to herself.

She decided to get out of the house before her mother (now extra worried because she would be surrounded by only boys for weeks) locked her in her room forever. "I have to go now! I'm going to be late!" she said, and dashed out of the house before either of her parents could protest.

Once a safe distance from her house, Sakura slowed to a walk with a sigh of relief. That scene was worse than when she went on the escort mission with the bridge builder. Then again, it was probably _because _of that mission that had her mother so worried. She arrived at the entrance gate of the village first. She sighed, and resigned herself to wait until the others showed up.

She didn't have to wait long. Sasuke was the next one to show up, soon after she arrived. She blushed softly, and avoided eyes contact. Even looking away, she could feel his eyes on her. She gulped, feeling awkward and nervous, not knowing quite what to say. Naruto came next, breaking the tension and beginning a comfortable chat with Sakura, who was glad for a reason to ignore Sasuke. Surprisingly, even Kakashi-sensei showed up on time. A small boy of no more than nine followed close behind.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're actually on time!" Naruto pointed out, in a slightly obnoxious voice. Sakura felt ashamed for him and glanced at the boy, who didn't appear offended by Naruto's rude behavior. In fact, the boy seemed to not care about anything. His dark grey eyes held an indifference for the world—the apathetic gaze of an observer. His brown hair was tossed in a careless way and he stood with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans.

Kakashi ignored Naruto's comment. "This is our charge, Tamaki. Tamaki, this is Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke," he said, pointing to each of them in turn.

Tamaki looked at each of them without really seeing them. "Hello," he said dully.

"So, are you all ready to leave?" Kakashi asked them, more as a formality than an actual question. When they each gave a small nod, he signaled for the gates to open. "Let's go then."

Sasuke and Naruto walked in front, each wanting to lead, but trying to stay with the rest of the group. Kakashi lagged a little behind, pretending to be oblivious to the world, but at the same time taking in every small detail. Sakura kept pace with Tamaki.

After a few minutes of silence, she tried to make small talk. "So, I heard you were visiting your dad in the village," she began awkwardly.

Tamaki didn't even glance at her. "Yeah," he said evenly.

"Did you enjoy seeing your dad?" she asked. He only shrugged. She felt her heart sink a little as she realized that the conversation was dying fast. She pressed on. "Do you live with your mom most of the time, or your dad?"

This time he looked up at her, with an incredulous look on his face. "My mom of course, what kind of stupid question is that? My dad is a ninja," he said, and then looked away again.

Inside, Sakura was seething, but she forced herself to keep a straight face. She was really beginning to dislike this kid. She didn't think it was a stupid question. Both Sasuke and Naruto were living without parents, so it wouldn't be so farfetched if this kid lived alone some of the time while with his dad. "Is that so?" she said carefully, her voice strained.

"Yeah," he said. She gave up on talking with him.

After a few more minutes of walking in silence, Tamaki looked up at her. She decided to ignore him, but his gaze grew more intense. She looked down at him.  
>What?" she asked, almost rudely.<p>

"You have pink hair," he observed.

She resisted the urge to answer sarcastically. "Yes it is. And before you ask, it's natural. I don't know how, but it is," she said.

"Pink hair is dumb," he said, and looked ahead again.

She stared at him open-mouthed. "Excuse me?" If she was a cat, she would be hissing, claws extended for a fight.

"I don't really like you," he said, still in that apathetic monotone.

There was really no retort for that. If it was Naruto, she would just punch him, but this was a nine-year-old kid. She decided that she didn't dislike him. She _hated _him. The escort mission was going to be painful, for at least seven days.

**(A/N- Well, that's it for the first chapter. It was going to be much longer, but this seemed like a good place to stop. Until the next chapter!)**


	2. Chapter 2

The first day was painfully boring. They walked on in silence until sunset, none of them speaking. Tamaki was obviously anti-social, and didn't seem inclined to speak to Sakura farther than informing her that he hated her. He was a little brat. The only source of excitement was from the tension building between the two, threatening to break out in a full-on fight, but remaining just below the boiling point. The day was warm, with no clouds obscuring the harsh blue sky. It was a great day to take a walk, if Sakura wasn't on a mission, and she had to force herself to focus, just in case someone did attack. The biggest threat was heatstroke, which was highly unlikely because of the mild heat and plenty of sources of water around. She resigned herself to accepting a bubbling brook as her sole form of entertainment.

Finally, after an excruciating amount of time, the sun began to ride low over the horizon, and Kakashi signaled for them to stop. "We'll camp out here tonight," he said.

They set about building camp. Sakura dug a fire pit while Kakashi placed their packs around where the fire would be. Tamaki stared intensely as Sakura worked. It was a little unnerving, but she refused to acknowledge him and focused on her task at hand. Naruto and Sasuke competed to gather the most wood from the surrounding forest, which Sakura used to build a fire. Sasuke lit it with his fire-style jutsu, which Sakura pointed out was unnecessary.

"I could have built a fire just as well by hand," she told him, hands on her hips indignantly.

He shrugged, passive. "Whatever, just thought I could save us some time instead of waiting for you to get it started," he said.

The insulting implication behind his comment angered her. "You should be conserving chakra. This is an extensive mission, and we don't know what will happen," she lectured.

His eyes became hard. "What are you telling me to do for? I'm perfectly capable of handling whatever comes my way, unlike some people in the group."

Sakura really couldn't believe she was arguing with her precious Sasuke, but se bore it as a small lovers' quarrel that would eventually strengthen their bond. "I can take care of myself very well, thank you very much!" she said, her voice raising an octave.

He rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Fine, then prove it instead of depending on your teammates for everything." With that, he walked away, leaving Sakura to fume quietly to herself.

What was with him and his pretentious attitude lately? She knew everyone saw her as weak—even she herself agreed with them. He's even made sly remarks in the past, telling her she needed to work on her jutsu or train, even telling her outright that she was weak. Never before, though, had he persisted the subject so relentlessly, insulting her every chance he got. She curled herself into a ball by the fire, staring into its glowing heart until it burned away her vision and all she could see was a black background to the leaping flames. Maybe Sasuke was fed up with her being dead weight. That would make sense. She was always depending on them. She sighed, utterly depressed. One thing was for sure: she needed to get stronger. When she was stronger, then Sasuke would have nothing to complain about. He might even compliment her for her strength. Normally, the thought would have made her giggle in excitement, but with her current moodiness, all she could manage was a small smile and a glimmer of hope, before it was overcome by another wave of sorrow. If only she could be stronger now!

Kakashi announced that he would take the first night watch, followed by Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, in that order. Tamaki sat on top of his sleeping bag, staring into the fire with a bored expression on his face.

"Not going to go to sleep? We're going to be doing a lot more walking tomorrow," Sakura said as she climbed into her own sleeping bag. She intended to get plenty of sleep in before her watch. Tamaki stared at her with that same blank expression; then turned back to the fire without giving her an answer. She rolled her eyes. So now he was giving her the cold shoulder? What an annoying little brat. She decided not to waste any more time on it, so she rolled over and promptly fell asleep.

_Sakura felt like she was floating. Her head buzzed with a dizzy numbness. She tried to shake it to clear away the sensations, but her body felt to heavy to lift. After a few moments of struggling to move, she resigned herself to just lying there. It was slightly uncomfortable, being unable to move, but it wasn't unbearable. She just wasn't strong enough to move herself. She was too weak._

_ Too weak._

_ Memories of Sasuke flashed through her mind. Memories of the looks of disgust as he informed her she was weak, of the constant insults he'd been giving her the past few days. She could practically see him in front of her now, with that arrogant smirk of his, feeling completely superior to her. She could hear his snide remarks, dripping with venom, as he told her how weak he was, and reminded her of her utter dependence on him, Naruto and Kakashi._

_ She remembered the mission with the bridge builder. When they were attacked by ninja for the first time, all she could do was jump in front of the bridge builder and pretend to look fierce, and only when Sasuke jumped in front of her (and then Kakashi deflecting the ninja's attacks) they were saved. Then, later in the same mission, all she could do was watch and scream as her three teammates took on Haku and Zabuza, _twice.

_There was no avoiding it. She was completely useless._

_ The only display of strength she'd ever showed was in the Forest of Death, when she jumped at the sound ninjas, and bit his arm. Even then, she had to be saved by several other people, including the previously unconscious Sasuke._

_ No wonder he was sick of her. She was always being protected by him. Every moment of every mission, when she needed to be strong, all Sakura could see was her own weaknesses. She needed to get stronger, to get some kind of power._

_ She needed to be the kind of person Sasuke could rely on._

_**Do you want power?**_

_The voice was deep and clear in her head. It sent shivers down her spine._

_ "Who are you?"_

_**The one who will make you strong. No one will be able to surpass your power when I'm done with you.**_

_Something about the way the voice said what it did unnerved her. She felt a little wary of the indirect offer._

_ "I can get there on my own. I just need to train a little harder," she told the voice, although she lacked the confidence to back her statement._

_**Can you really? **__Even the voice was incredulous. __**You are weak. Your friends all think so. The love of your life thinks you're petty and worthless. He's sick of you already. Can you really get stronger fast enough to keep him?**_

_The conversation began to feel a little ridiculous. The entire situation felt unreal, like an enemy's genjutsu, except that she couldn't detect any chakra signatures. She was fed up with the talking to the voice. It made her feel a little insane._

_ "Leave me alone. I have to take a night watch in a few hours and I'm tired," she said, the beginnings of irritation in her voice now._

_**I'll be back. I'm always with you.**_

_The last thing Sakura could think was that the voice's last statement was extremely creepy._

Sakura awoke to Naruto's foot nudging her incessantly. She batted at it irritably. "Come on, Sakura, it's time for your watch," he said in a low voice, the hint of a whine just at the edge of his tone.

She groaned. She felt like she hadn't slept at all. "I know, I know, I'm getting up," she said. She waited a few for seconds before actually slipping out of her sleeping bag, though, and when she did, she took a little time to stretch.

Naruto was still with her when she readied herself to assume the night watch. She looked up at him curiously. "Not going to bed?" she asked. She had a horribly unsettling feeling left over from her dreams, and she didn't particularly feel like having company, especially if said company was Naruto.

"Oh, um, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a while," he said. He blushed a little as he said it, causing Sakura to sigh inwardly. If this was another one of Naruto's lame attempts to get her to like him, then she was seriously going to punch him through the wall. Even if she was weak, her angry strength knew no bounds.

She suppressed her irritation and made a tired hand motion for Naruto to sit. "Fine, go ahead. It would make this stupid mission a whole lot less boring anyways," she said a lot more harshly than she intended. She sighed. Day one had barely gone by and she was already to go rogue. Maybe she really was going insane after all. Just another weakness to add to her growing list of ineptitudes. The thought of a paper, miles long, dedicated to what an awful ninja she was, depressed the hell out of her. She drew her knees to her chest and rested her head on them.

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Naruto asked.

Immediately she shot him a glare. "What do you think is wrong? Sasuke has been insulting me nonstop all of today, I'm stuck on an at least seven day mission with a little apathetic brat to hates my guts for no reason, and I'm probably going crazy," she snapped. Then she regretted her outburst. She sighed. "Sorry, Naruto. I just had a bad dream, so I'm in a bit of a bad mood," she said.

Naruto sat up a little straighter, interested. "What kind of dream?" There was a sense of urgency in her voice that confused her.

She shrugged. "I don't know. It's not really a bad dream. Just some creeper talking to me," she said.

"What did he say?" Naruo's interest in her dream was getting on her nerves.

"I don't know, ok? I don't remember much of it. It just put me in a bad mood," she said, her tone just bordering anger.

He sensed her rising frustration and wisely decided to drop the subject. "Oh, ok then, sorry," he said meekly in the way he always did when trying to placate her.

Sakura sighed again. She felt really out of character lately. "Whatever, it's fine," she said, then fell into silence.

After a while, he asked, "Why do you like Sasuke so much? He treats you like crap. He treats _everyone _like crap!" he said.

She shot him a glare; even though she knew what Naruto said was true. It irritated her for someone to talk bad about him, no matter how accurate their words were. She immediately rose to his defense. "He's not all that bad! He just really needs to focus on his dreams. It's my fault anyways. I'm too weak. I'm a hindrance." With yet another sigh of depression, Sakura hid her face behind her knees.

Naruto seemed at a loss for words. "You're not that weak, Sakura. You try as hard as you can, and you have perfect chakra control. You're smart, too, and you can see through genjutsu," he said. "You just need to train a little harder, and you'll be a great ninja.

Sakura looked at him. He was blushing and rubbing the back of his head. The sight made her smile. Naruto really did care about her, even if he annoyed her all the time. She gave him her warmest smile. "Thanks, Naruto, that makes me feel a lot better," she lied. Her heart was still heavy with the sorrow of not being good enough for Sasuke, but she didn't want Naruto to feel bad on her account.

He grinned back, although there was something fake about it, like he didn't quite believe that she was fine. "Ok, then, Sakura. I'm going to bed now. Please don't worry too much about Sasuke, he's a jerk," he said, getting up.

She allowed him to insult Sasuke, just this one time. "Fine, good night, sleep well," she told him, watching as he made his way over to the sleeping bag. She saw Tamaki's tiny form out of the corner of her eye. She looked at their charge for a while. There was no recognizable chakra signature, which didn't surprise her since he was technically a civilian. Still, something about the way he was lying their, curled into a tiny ball inside the sleeping bag, told her he wasn't asleep. She shrugged it off and returned her attention to the surrounding forest. Kids will be kids, and he was probably just not tired. Tomorrow he would be, and she grinned at the thought. They wouldn't stop just because he didn't sleep that night. The mission took seven days to get to his home, and they couldn't prolong the mission because he was tired all the time. The little brat would just have to deal with it. With an uncharacteristically evil cackle, she settled in for the remainder of her watch, partially dreading the end of it, when she would have to wake up Sasuke.

If only she was stronger. If only she had power.

**(A/N- Well, there's chapter 2. I hope you like it. I feel like I've made Sasuke too harsh on Sakura, and Sakura too wimpy, even for the beginning of the show. Any thoughts? I appreciate all reviews, as long as you don't just say it sucked. Constructive criticism is nice. Thank you!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N- Happy 4th of July everyone! Finally got chapter 3 up. Sorry if the plot seems to be moving pretty slowly. It'll pick up eventually, I promise. I might be moving the rating up in a few chapters, as well. You know how demons are. Also, I noticed a few spelling errors and typos in my previous chapters. When I finish this, I'll go back and fix them. Enjoy!)**

* * *

><p>Tamaki drove her nuts.<p>

Since he hadn't slept the previous night, Sakura was counting on the sweet sight of the infuriating child dragging himself along the next day. But no, the stoic kid continued keeping the same pace as yesterday, with no hint of fatigue in his stride. In fact, it was Sakura who was still exhausted from her restless sleep, as she kept herself awake with the knowledge that she was weak and left over emotions from the hazy dream. Being kept awake by a dream, of which she hardly remembered anything about other than the faint memory of some voice, made her want to bash her own skull in with her frustration. She thought that she had removed at least some of her irrationality a long time ago, so being unable to sleep because of a faded dream bothered her.

On top of everything, Tamaki was making _fun _of her obvious exhaustion. He somehow sensed that she was struggling to keep her eyes open (even though she thought she was hiding it so well), and she saw the ghost of a smirk in his emotionless eyes, before it disappeared again into oblivion. The knowledge that a young boy, not yet ten, was holding his own against a kunoichi (even a weak one like herself) made her want to wrap her hands around his puny throat and strangle the ungrateful brat.

She pushed the murderous—but satisfying—thoughts away. It would do no good to kill their charge, no matter how much of an infuriating stupid little apathetic brat he was. Maybe after the mission she could 'accidentally' allow him to die at the hands of some mystery ninja. The idea consoled her somewhat.

"So, why couldn't you just wait for your father to finish his mission and then take you home?" she asked. As much as she hated Tamaki, she was still burning with curiosity.

Tamaki shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe the mission would take a long time," he said.

Sakura noticed that Sasuke had drifted closer to them, within hearing distance. He was probably wondering why they were required for this escort mission as well. "Why couldn't your mother come get you?" Sakura wanted to know why the mother was so willing to pay to have ninjas escort her son home when she could just retrieve Tamaki for free.

A dark look quickly passed over Tamaki's face like a passing shadow. Even in the few seconds she saw it, the amount of anger the child summoned so fast frightened her, a little. "Well, she has other children to worry about, ten at least, if she hasn't gotten more in the time I've been gone. So she really can't be worry about a single one who she has no use for," he said, straining to maintain his composure. Sakura heard the bitter venom clearly in his voice. What happened in this boy's family to cause such hatred?

"Wait, ten children?" she asked, shocked. She couldn't wrap her mind around the idea of having so many kids to look after.

"Or more," Tamaki said, returning to his apathetic composure.

Her mind was wiped blank. From what she knew, Tamaki hadn't been with his father long enough for his mother to have more children, and he would know if his mother was coming along with another child. Was his mother a prostitute? If so, how did she make enough money to pay for a ninja escort, besides caring for ten children?

Soon after, they stopped for lunch. Sakura ate voraciously—more than she usually did even back in the village. For some reason, she was extremely hungry, and dying for whatever energy the food gave her. Sometime in the middle of her furious consumption, she noticed that Tamaki wasn't eating much. He picked at his food with a slightly disgusted look on his face. Apparently, he was a picky eater, and that angered her for some reason.

"It's only going to be this kind of food for a next week, so you might as well get used to it," she told him irritably.

Sasuke gave her an amused look before dutifully eating his portion. She felt a thrill of excitement at the first semi-positive look he'd given her in days, wiping away her irritation.

Tamaki gave a small passing shrug. "I'll be fine," he said, but took a bite anyway, screwing his face up at the taste. A couple bites later, he pushed the food away.

"I wish we had some ramen," Naruto moaned woefully, also picking at the meal.

Kakashi spoke up for the first time for something other than giving commands, "Well, would you rather eat the ramen dry?"

Naruto gave a startled look at his sensei's blasphemy. "Never! Ramen must be properly served hot!" he said.

Kakashi nodded. "So it wouldn't do to have instant ramen while on a mission," he said.

"We could just cook it on the fire," Naruto grumbled, but other than that, he made no more complaints about his food and finished his portion. "Are you done yet, Sakura?" Sakura felt slightly embarrassed, realizing that she had eaten the most out of the group—more than all the boys! She covered her embarrassment by quickly pushing the remainder of her food away. "Yeah, just finished," she said hastily.

Only a few minutes into their continued trek, Sakura felt three chakra signatures somewhere far off. She froze. "You guys feel that?" she asked. The other three nodded. Tamaki looked around the group, a look of mild confusion plastered on his face. He curiously sniffed the air as the sources of chakra quickly approached, then tensed as well. Sakura mentally frowned at his reaction. Could he sense chakra as well, despite being a civilian?

Before she had time to think about it, the unknown shinobi were almost upon them. They moved to form a half circle around Tamaki, ready to protect their charge. "I thought there weren't supposed to be any ninja assassins in the mission," Sakura muttered to her sensei, her kunai in hand.

"We don't know their intent yet, Sakura, and since they haven't tried to mask their chakra from us, I doubt they're coming to kill the boy," Kakashi reasoned.

They readied themselves as the shinobi finally came into the clearing. The strong smell of alcohol assaulted Sakura's nostrils coming from the three ninjas. There was something rugged about the enemy ninjas, as if they had been traveling for a while, and it was obvious they had been drinking. Sakura would have felt a lot better if they looked the least bit drunk. She saw Tamaki's face go pale and he bit his lip. Sasuke smirked a little. When Sakura sent him a disapproving glare, his smirk only widened.

"What do we have here?" the middle one said, his voice slightly slurred (although from alcohol, she couldn't tell).

"A freakish team of ninja escorting some little kid," another said.

The last one huffed in disdain. "Some ninja team they are. An old dude, a scrawny chick with pink hair, a freak in an orange jumpsuit, and an emo boy," he grunted.

Sakura shot daggers at the last comment, but said nothing. Kakashi stepped forward, holding his arms up in an attempt to placate the shinobi. "We mean no harm. We're simply escorting this boy to his home, and it would be best for everyone if you let us pass," he said, adopting a subtly threatening tone at the end of his statement.

The one in the middle—obviously the leader—glared. "I don't think so. I think you're going to give us all your valuables, or we're going ta beat it outta ya," he said darkly. It was difficult for Sakura not to roll her eyes. These ninja didn't stand a chance, particularly against Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei.

"Well, I guess you leave me no choice then." In a flash, Kakashi disappeared. He reappeared behind one of the men and knocked him out with a swift chop to the back of his neck. Kakashi gave a little smile behind his mask. "Still want to fight?"

"You bastard!" the leader bellowed, swinging at Kakashi. The fight broke out then. Naruto and Sakura remained faithfully by Tamaki's side, while Sasuke threw himself into the fray. She made a small gleeful sound as the two shinobi made quick work of their enemies. Soon, all three unknown ninjas were on the ground, unconscious, in the shortest battle sequence Sakura had ever witnessed (aside from the one where Naruto had his ass handed to him by Rock Lee within seconds). A small noise of triumph began to surface when she felt the cold blade of a kunai pressed against her throat.

Arms quickly secured her against her attacker so she couldn't move. She heard a small chuckle. "I'd think it best if you drop all your money now, if you don't want this little girl here to die," her captor said.

"Bastard, let go of Sakura!" Naruto shouted futilely. Sakura felt rage build up inside of her. If anyone should be a hostage right now, it should be Tamaki, not her! How could she be so stupid and let herself get caught over a little boy! Her eyes cast around for Tamaki and found him over by Kakashi. How he got there, she had no idea. He didn't look so well, either, with one hand covering his mouth and nose. He looked so weak! She couldn't believe she seemed so weak that she was an easier target than a sickly-looking boy. Tears of fury at herself welled up behind her eyes, burning, but she held them in. No, she would get herself out of this!

She wiggled around in his grasp, but this only resulted in the kunai being pressed tighter to her throat, so she froze. Instead, she attempted focusing chakra into her hands. With enough chakra reinforcing her punch, even a slight tap should be enough to make her captor at least release her, sot he others could attack freely. Concentrating with all her might, she unleashed her attack. Much to her frustration, the chakra dissipated before she could channel it into the body of attacker. She cried out in anger that her chakra control failed her at such a critical time. Her attacker laughed cruelly at her efforts. Nothing seemed to work against this _drunken_ shinobi. So she did the only thing she could think of.

The man shouted in surprise and anger when he felt her body suddenly go limp. He struggled with her unsupported weight. "What the hell are you doing, bitch!" he growled, trying to keep his hostage upright.

While he was distracted and partially bent over, Sasuke leapt at his chance to free his useless teammate. With a dramatic jump in the air (probably to get a better angle that wouldn't threaten Sakura's safety), Sasuke made a few quick hand signs. A mass of fireballs shot from his mouth to Sakura's captor. The first one singed the man's shoulder, causing him to yelp in pain. After that, he released his captive and backed away. Forgetting about his former companions, the man sprinted away at top speed, screaming like a civilian girl. Sasuke landed neatly by Sakura, with a smirk at the man's disgraceful behavior.

Sakura sat up, smiling at her savior. "Thanks for rescuing me, Sasuke," she said, with a small blush. She couldn't help but feel elated that her love was the one to save her from the enemy ninja, and forgot all about her earlier resolve to rescue herself.

He gave her a cold look in return, that chilled her to the bone. Muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "worthless girl", he stood and rejoined Naruto and Kakashi, the latter of whom had just finished tying the three unconscious shinobi to a tree.

"What do we do with them?" Sasuke asked, giving the three in question a disgusted look.

Kakashi gave a small shrug. "Just leave them. I doubt we could glean any pertinent information from the likes of them, and it looks like they won't be bothering anyone else for a long while," he said, referring to the skillful knots Kakashi tied and their current state of consciousness.

Sasuke shrugged. "Whatever, let's get going then. We wasted enough time on these idiots, thanks to Sakura getting caught like that."

"Shut up, teme! What do you know about Sakura?" Naruto shouted immediately. Thus began yet another of their short-lived, yet intense, squabbles. Naturally, as always, Sasuke easily defeated Naruto within a matter of seconds, without so much as breaking a sweat.

The scathing attitude with which Sasuke treated Sakura made Kakashi sigh inwardly, but he said nothing. Kids will be kids, and the two would probably get along better once they matured a little. At least, Kakashi hoped so. His students were enough of a pain as it was without Sasuke picking fights with Sakura, as well as Naruto picking fights with Sasuke, and Sakura in turn picking fights with Naruto in defense of Sasuke. It was an irritating cycle, to say the least.

_**You're worthless. You have no power. You can't even defend yourself against a single shinobi, whom you should have been able to sense.**__ The voice was merciless, cutting Sakura right to the core._

_ Sakura felt rage at herself build up inside and she lashed out against the voice to vent her anger. "Shut up! Who the hell are you anyway? And don't give me any of the bull like last time!" she shouted. Her voice seamed to hang in the air, thick and heavy, and reverberate throughout the room (could it even be called a room?) eerily. She shivered at the sound of herself._

_**Who do you think I am? **__ The voice sounded nothing more than amused, angering her further. She wanted to cause some kind of reaction in this entity she could not see, who was toying with her emotions._

_ She paused, thinking about the surrealism of the situation, like she was trapped in some kind of genjutsu, although she was well aware that it wasn't one, and the voice's obvious knowledge of events that happened in her life. "Myself?" she queried._

_ The voice seemed to chuckle, although it wasn't exactly a sound. More like a feeling she got from the very air she floated in. __**If that's what you want me to be.**_

_ Sakura almost screamed with frustration. The voice enjoyed speaking in cryptic phrases, and although Sakura was no idiot, she was tired of not getting straight-forward answers. "Show yourself!" she demanded._

_ To her surprise, the voice complied. __**Very well. **__A figure began forming, hazily. It was a basic male body, with a reddish hue to the skin. She was pretty sure it was naked, but couldn't tell through the haze. It had no face that she recognized; in that vague way that dreams present people to you. Sakura growled in frustration, not able to fix a solid image of the figure in her mind._

_ "What do you want," she hissed._

_ The figure didn't seem to take offense to her impudent attitude. __**I just want to make you powerful. More powerful than you will ever get to in your life. Nothing to it, but that.**_

_She gave the figure a suspicious glare. "That's all? Don't tell me there isn't a price, or else why would you bother talking to me in the first place," she reasoned._

_ The figure smiled (or at least, she thought it did). __**Smart girl, but what I want isn't such a big deal. You can have anything you want. Power, wealth, fame… All for the price of your first-born son.**_

_If Sakura had been breathing at all this entire time, her breath would have caught in her throat at the figure's last statement. "My first-born son? What kind of price is that?" She couldn't help the smallest feeling of interest stir deep in her bosom._

_ The figure sensed her buried interest and pounced on it. __**How bad could it be? You can always have more children, what's one more? And you'll barely know the child anyway. You can have **_**whatever you want!**

_"I— I want…" Sakura had difficulty summoning her voice. "I want my precious Sasuke to love me!"_

_ The figure seemed to freeze for a moment in shock, as if not expecting her to say that. Then a burst of energy knocked her silly. __**You idiot! **__ The voice screeched, and the figure leapt at her, with the intent to kill._

Sakura woke up in a state of confusion. She opened her eyes to see Sasuke shaking her awake. He had a dark look in his eyes, angry. She bit her lip and blinked up at him, still baffled by her dream and struggled to separate it from reality.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" she asked.

"We're going to train," Sasuke commanded. A shiver ran down Sakura's spine at his tone.

"Now? Why?" It was still dark, darker than it had been when they had stopped for the night earlier. Kakashi, Naruto, and Tamaki were still in their sleeping bags. Obviously, it was Sasuke's watch.

"Yes, now. Just come on." He half dragged her out of her own sleeping bag. She felt a sense of foreboding as he led her off into the forest, his grip on her forearm so tight that it was sure to leave bruises. Normally, Sakura would be thrilled about spending some one-on-one training time with her beloved Sasuke, but there was something about the way he walked, with deadly intent, that scared her.

"Why don't we just train in the morning, with Kakashi and Naruto, when everyone is awake?" she asked.

"Shut up," he said coldly. She immediately shut her mouth, more afraid than ever.

They arrived at another, more secluded clearing. He released her arm, motioned her to stay where she was, and moved to the other side of the clearing. He faced her and got into position. "Come at me, with all you got," he said, with an arrogant smirk.

Sakura obliged, running at him at top speed. She pulled out a kunai, and just as she reached him, she began to swing. Something was wrong though. He wasn't even trying to move out of the way. Afraid she'd kill him, she stopped her attack just centimeters away from him. The arrogant look on his face never flinched. His smirk widened.

"Fool girl." Then the smirk was gone, replaced with the serious, cold look of a killing machine, of the ninja they were all raised to be. That was all she saw of his face before he disappeared, speed lightening quick.

She felt a punch aimed at the center of her back. She flew forward; barely missing a tree and landing face down in the dirt. "You're weak," he said, in a cold monotone. He kicked her in the side and she spun over a few yards. She coughed, gasping from the pain. How was this training?

"Are you really foolish enough to think I could ever love a worthless human like you?" He lifted her by the front of her dress. She could see nothing in his cold eyes—no emotion at his teammates obvious pain. He tossed her with ease, like a rag doll. This time, she hit a tree hard, sliding painfully down it into a crumpled heap at the bottom.

"Worthless." Sakura looked up to see him preparing a fire style jutsu. She realized that he intended to kill her if she didn't move. She struggled to her feet through the pain and confusion of Sasuke's betrayal toward her. A huge blaze sprang up in front of him, rushing at her at top speed. She tried to run, but the pain was too much, and she fell to the ground. She whimpered as she felt the heat of the flames rapidly nearing her.

The flames disappeared. Hopeful that Sasuke stopped his attack, she looked up. Instead, Naruto stood there, guarding her body. His hands were singed, and she realized that he must have used them to dissipate the flames, all to protect her. "What the hell are you doing, teme? Are you trying to kill Sakura? She's our teammate!" Naruto shouted, glaring at his hated rival.

Sasuke shrugged his accusations off. "Whatever, she would have been fine. We were just training," he said.

Naruto looked at Sakura's battered form and then at Sasuke's unscathed one in disbelief. "That's not training, that's a beating!" he said.

Sasuke only shrugged again. "She needs a good training anyway. She's so weak. I'm going to bed now," he said, and began to walk back as if nothing had happened, and Naruto's interruption was just a minor annoyance.

Naruto snarled, his upper lip drawn back to reveal his abnormally long canine teeth. "Bastard, demon, I'll kill you!" he vowed.

Sasuke only smirked. "But we're teammates," he said, and went back to the camp before Naruto could say another word.

Naruto took some time to unclench his fists before attending to Sakura. She notice small fingernail marks on the palms of his hands, some of them bleeding. For the first time, she realized the strength of his hatred towards Sasuke. Then the realization sunk in that Sasuke had just tried to kill her.

Her true love, soul mate, beloved Sasuke—had just tried to kill her.


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is a little shorter than I wanted it to be, but oh well. Also, sorry for the delay in getting it out to you all. Honestly, I've had most of this planned out since I got out chapter three, but never got around to writing it. Oh well. Without further ado, I give you chapter 4 of Demons in the Night!**

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><p>Naruto remained by Sakura's side the entire day. Sasuke walked just a couple paces in front of them. He was close enough to eavesdrop, but not close enough to actually be walking alongside his teammates. Kakashi remained quiet at the strange behavior of his pupils, and if he had any inkling of the danger Sakura was in the night before, he didn't say anything. Skirmishes between children were to remain between children, until someone died. Besides, they were ninja, and ninja were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.<p>

Every time Sasuke glanced back, Sakura felt every muscle in her body tense. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, trying to break free of her body. Previously, it had always reacted this way to Sasuke's glances, but it was in delight. Now, she could only feel panic-inducing fear like she'd never felt before, even when Sasuke was possessed by the curse mark. This felt a thousand times worse, because he was completely _in control_. Besides fear, she was confused, unable to understand what she did to bring such wrath upon herself. It couldn't be her weaknesses again. That was just too drastic, to pull a girl from sleep just to destroy her for something as insignificant as her own faults. And that inability to understand Sasuke's actions only fueled her fear.

As they walked, some of this fear ebbed away as it became obvious that Sasuke was not about to jump her. She felt tense, but no longer froze every time Sasuke happened to look her way for even a split second. Even when he looked back, which was not often, it was more like he was looking at Tamaki than at Sakura. She mentally berated herself for her irrationality. The last night had to be some kind of fluke, confusion, or _something_! Maybe Sasuke was half asleep and had suddenly mistaken her for an enemy in the middle of their midnight 'training'. No, that isn't it, Sakura thought, remembering the bitter statements Sasuke had made, which were very clearly addressed to _her._ Eventually, after being unable to come up with any solution, Sakura decided that something must have happened as a trigger to cause Sasuke to temporarily loose his sanity. Maybe something in his past was violently brought up, causing him to lash out. Sakura had heard plenty of stories of ninja having to be sent to insane asylums because of traumatic events that they continued to live through decades later. Yes, that would make sense, since Sasuke was so obviously seeking revenge for something in his past. Sakura frowned. If some kind of trigger was the cause of Sasuke's attack, what on earth did she do to cause it? Something didn't seem right about the situation.

"Sakura!" Naruto's voice jolted her out of her reverie.

She blinked a few times. "Huh?" she asked, still feeling disconcerted. Naruto's hand was wrapped tightly around her wrist, prevented her from continuing. She felt a jolt of panic, realizing she hadn't been paying attention.

"We're stopping for lunch," he replied.

Sakura shook her head slightly, trying to clear the awful thoughts from her mind. She suddenly noticed the other three members of the party staring at her curiously. The panic quickly turned to embarrassment. "Oh, right, of course," she murmured, unable to think of anything to say to disperse the embarrassing situation.

Naruto faithfully remained by her side all through lunch, except for a couple minutes to relieve himself. Sakura was glad that he stayed with her like that. His presence was a comfort to her. She remembered the way he'd jumped in front of the flames, just to save her weakened body. Idly, her fingers brushed over the bruised skin on her back, stomach, and sides. It was a wonder she hadn't broken any bones, the way Sasuke had tossed her around like she was nothing. Remembering the ease of which he'd managed to throw her, even the light girl she was, made her think eerily of superhuman strength. Then again, many shinobi had insane strength… Right?

That night, Naruto insisted on keeping his sleeping bag right next to hers. He even convinced Kakashi to allow him to take the watch directly after his, so that Naruto could also keep an eye on Sakura and Sasuke. Even during Sakura's watch, he remained awake, until they woke up Sasuke for the final watch. Only then did Naruto snuggle into the sleeping bag and fall asleep.

Sakura woke up sometime before dawn because of a soft rustling. She didn't have any dreams of the strange entity during the time she was asleep, which she thought weird. Two nights in a row of the creature's persistence, and then suddenly it just gives up? The continued sound of rustling made her push the thoughts to the back of her mind for the time being. She kept her eyes half-closed, mostly listening.

The sound turned out to be Tamaki getting out of his sleeping bag. Sakura exhaled slowly in some relief. The boy was probably just getting up to relieve his bladder. She figured he was bladder-shy, considering he'd never gone during the day. Or maybe it was just the fact that he seemed to never eat or drink anything. No wonder the boy was so skinny, with the habits (or lack thereof) he had. When they arrived at their destination, Sakura figured she would have a small discussion with Tamaki's mother about it.

Seconds later, Sasuke also got off of his sleeping bag, from which he was taking his watch. Through her half-closed eyes, she watched as he silently caught up to Tamaki. The two slinked off into the dark of the surrounding woods (she was getting tired of the forest scenery, but Kakashi assured her they would be clear of it soon, after which they would be going through flat, barren land and small crop fields). She frowned at the strange sight. If the two just needed to use the restroom, why did they go off together, unless Sasuke was there to protect Tamaki (which Sakura doubted)? After waiting a couple beats, curiosity over took her. With a quick glance to make sure both Naruto and Kakashi-sensei were fast asleep, Sakura quietly slid out of her sleeping bag and softly padded off in pursuit.

"So, little vampire-boy, thought you could slip away to prey on some humans?" Sasuke's voice froze her in her spot. She held onto the nearest tree, listening with bated breath. Vampire?

"What's it to you, demon?" Tamaki responded, his voice unusually cold and… Slightly fearful?

There was a footstep, and she imagined Sasuke getting closer to the small child, looming over him menacingly. "Obviously, you're my client, and I've got to keep you and my team safe," he said nonchalant, although something in his voice sounded sarcastic.

"Liar, you don't care what happens to me at all. None of you demons do!"

Sasuke made a neutral sound, like he was neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Tamaki's accusation. "Either way, the safety of my team is _important_ and if there's a _demon _waiting for us at your house, I'd have to _exterminate _it." Sakura couldn't help but feel that Sasuke didn't actually care for her and Naruto's lives. At the hands of a… Demon? Sakura knew that demons existed in the form of creatures like the nine tailed fox, but there was something off about Sasuke and Tamaki's conversation. And then Tamaki had called Sasuke a demon, when he clearly wasn't… What was going on?

"Y—you'd kill my mother? She's never done anything to humans! She loves them! All she does is make a contract every now and then, but she never terrorizes them too much!" For the first time since Sakura met him, Tamaki sounded truly panicked, his mouth running at a hundred miles an hour.

There was the sound of a hand on bare skin—Sasuke had slapped Tamaki. Tamaki made no cry of pain, but Sakura imagined the shocked look on his face. The same one Sakura had when Sasuke tried to kill her. "I _know _your mother loves humans! It's how worthless trash like _you _gets made, because of disgraceful demons like her fucking every human they get their hands on! A succubus is almost as bad as a vampire!" Sakura was shocked to hear the vulgarity spewing from her beloved Sasuke's mouth, and even more so to hear the way-too-supernatural conversation going on.

"You're wrong! My mother only loved one human, and kept her demon children out of the village to protect it!" Tamaki cried in defense of his parents. Sakura's breath caught. That meant the leaf village, didn't it? From what Kakashi-sensei said, the boy's father was a ninja in their own village.

She heard another slap. "Shut up, trash! I should prevent you from getting blood the rest of your life, just for your impudence! Since when do you think you, a weak little vampire thing, are greater from a full-blooded demon such as myself?" There was a pause. "In fact, I should do that anyway."

"No! No, please don't do that!" The panic was obvious in Tamaki's tone, if it hadn't been before. "I'll do anything!"

Sasuke paused again, considering the offer. "You'll even make a contract with me?" he asked, in a voice that was so quiet that Sakura had to strain to hear it, even in the quiet forest. Not even the bugs were making a sound that night.

Tamaki took a minute to answer. "A contract? But what can I offer? I can't give you a son," he said.

Even with the strange conversation she was eavesdropping on, Sakura couldn't help but feel Tamaki's statement was worded in an awkward way. Sasuke seemed to think so, too, because he slapped Tamaki again.

"You idiot! Even if you could sire a child, I wouldn't want something from a weak worthless piece of shit like you!" Once against, Sakura flinched from the uncharacteristic language Sasuke was using.

"Th—then what can I give you?" Tamaki sounded timid as he asked, and she imagined the small boy cringing away from Sasuke's fuming form.

"Hmm, I know. I'll make sure you're fed for the rest of your life, if you agree to be my slave. And if you don't, you'll wither away to nothing, without ever getting blood again. The choice is yours~!" By the end of the proposal, Sasuke's voice had taken on yet another uncharacteristic quality—this time, a child-like innocence. This latest tone scared Sakura more than any other had before; including the frightening one he had as he tried to kill her.

Tamaki was silent for what seemed like hours, although Sakura judged by the pounding of her overwhelmed heart that it was actually only a few minutes. Finally, he said, "I agree to be your slave, and wait on you hand and foot, and never to disobey a direct order, if you allow me to feed." His voice has a certain formality to it that felt strange, given the situation.

"Good! Then, we should welcome Sakura, who's been so worried about your condition that she's been listening this entire time!" At the mention, Sakura had to swallow a scream. She spun around to make a mad dash back to the campsite, and the comfort of Naruto's presence. Sasuke appeared directly in front of her, blocking her path. This time, she did scream, but it was choked off as Sasuke clamped a hand over her mouth.

He wagged a finger disapprovingly at her. "That's a bad girl, Sakura. Didn't your parents ever teach you that eavesdropping was wrong?" He considered her, his dark eyes still holding the intimidating child-like quality. "Hmm, well, I guess your ninja training would have made it a habit. I guess it can't be helped. Go back to sleep now." As he finished his command, Sasuke pressed a finger to her forehead.

Immediately, Sakura felt a haze overcome her mind. She dropped to her knees, suddenly unable to hold herself up. Within seconds, she dropped into darkness, her body nothing more than a puppet without strings in the dirt. Sasuke regarded her with a slightly disgusted curiosity.

He looked to Tamaki, his new slave. "Well then, vampire-boy, I guess your master has found you a meal for the night," he said. As the boy stumbled forward without hesitation, his fangs bared, Sasuke stepped back, still watching Sakura's sleeping form.

"Make sure you don't kill her," he cautioned. "She's more useful to me alive."

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><p><strong>Is that a plot advancement I smell? Well, there's a little insight into the world of demons as I imagined it. It's a little complicated, though, so I don't expect to be coming out with a guide on it any time soon, if at all. Don't worryI'm sorry, Sakura isn't going to become a vampire. Doesn't work like that. Anyway, I have the feeling this rating will go up, simply because of the way demons are. Maybe I should add "horror" to the genre? I don't know, we'll see. Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok, this is a fairly short chapter. It might be slightly boring, but it's a very necessary chapter nonetheless. Some very important things come to light, and it will prevent some questions for later in the story.**

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><p>Sakura woke up in her sleeping bag. She sat up and rubbed her neck, which for some reason was very sore. A groan of discomfort escaped her lips. Why the heck was she getting hurt so much on the mission? And why wasn't any of the pain coming from enemy ninja or threats at least? Just my luck, she thought irritably, falling back to the ground, flinging her arms to the sides. The previous night was an annoying blur. She was sure she'd gotten up… To do what? She scowled, trying to remember, but failing to do so.<p>

"This mission bites!" she said out loud.

Naruto stirred in the sleeping bag next to her, and she immediately felt guilty for waking him up. She'd forgotten he was there. "What's wrong, Sakura?" he asked sleepily, opening his bleary eyes to look at her.

Sakura gave him a nervous giggle, waving her hand in dismissal. "No, nothing's wrong! Go back to sleep, Naruto," she said, still forcing herself to laugh. She hoped he'd go back to sleep so that she could try and remember what happened last night in peace.

Unfortunately, Naruto sat up as well. "No point going back to sleep now, I bet we'll leave any minute now." He rubbed his eyes. "I'm so tired, I wish we could stay in one place a while longer," he grumbled. Now Sakura felt _really _guilty about waking him up. She knew Naruto would sleep the day away if he was allowed to.

"I just want to get this mission over with, and get rid of that annoying brat!" Sakura said, looking over at Tamaki. As usual, the boy was already awake and staring into the remains of their campfire. The ashes stirred in the wind. Tamaki looked over at her, eyes dull as always, and then looked away again, not caring enough to respond to her insults.

Something in the momentary eye contact triggered something in her heart that she couldn't quite identify. She furrowed her brows, trying to figure the sensation out. A pang of fear, maybe? No, that wasn't quite right. Something was definitely off about the boy. It made the sore spot on her neck throb in pain.

"Sakura? What's on your neck?" he asked, looking at the offending spot.

She rubbed the sore area again. "I don't know, what's it look like?" she asked, staring at Tamaki's back. What was so off about him today? He looked the same, was doing the same thing, and even had the same devil-may-cry attitude he always had. But there was definitely something odd about Tamaki that day that Sakura just couldn't pin down.

"They look like… Bite marks…" Naruto's voice trailed away, which was strange for him. Sakura cast him a glance, worried, but he wasn't looking at her. She followed his gaze, and it landed on Tamaki's back.

Then a wave of realization crashed over her with such force she was left gasping for air.

"Naruto!" she said suddenly, her mind reeling from the memory. Sasuke and Tamaki in the middle of the night, talking… Something about making a contract… Demons, vampires, succubus… Fangs…

"What is it, Sakura?" There was so much concern in Naruto's voice that it hurt to bring her troubles on him.

"Do you believe in vampires?"

That day when they were walking, Naruto listened to the strange events that had happened to Sakura since they began the mission. She explained all that she could remember from the two dreams she had, and then what she remembered about Sasuke and Tamaki. He frowned the entire time she was talking, and that worried Sakura more than anything. When she finished, he sighed heavily.

"Listen, Sakura, you need to stay away from Sasuke as much as possible. And never do what the creature in your dreams is asking you to do," Naruto said, so seriously that Sakura began to panic.

"Why? What's going on with Sasuke? I don't understand," she asked, biting her lip in her anxiety.

Naruto sighed again, and he looked to the sky, as if asking for help. After a long while, he looked at Sakura's worried face. "Ok, I'll tell you the entire story, but you have to promise not to freak out, or tell anyone else, ok?" he said.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, I'll promise. Just tell me what's going on here," she agreed without hesitation. She felt so left in the dark, with Sasuke, Naruto, and Tamaki in on some big secret that only she wasn't a part of. Well, she and Kakashi-sensei, but he hadn't been a huge asset on the mission. It was like he was just there, but not really part of the group. A chaperone of sorts, she supposed.

"Well, Sasuke's a demon, and Tamaki's a vampire, who bit you," Naruto said, watching her intently to discern her reaction.

Sakura's heart stopped for a beat, and she very nearly stopped walking all together. "What? Am I going to turn into a vampire?" Her panic rose, striking hard and leaving her head spinning. She rubbed the bite marks on her neck distractedly.

To her surprise, Naruto laughed, and she glared at him. "Sorry, but that's just a human myth. Vampires can't turn humans into vampires! You have to be born a vampire," he explained.

For some irrational reason, Sakura felt very stupid for her worry. "Well, excuse me for being human," she muttered irritably to cover her embarrassment.

"Anyway, with your dreams, I think Sasuke is trying to get a contract with you so he can have your first born son," Naruto continued hastily.

Sakura thought about this. "Does this mean he's going to…?"

Naruto cut her off, with a slight blush. "Oh, no! That's not what I mean! He's not going to sire the child! Just, he'll stalk and terrify you until you give birth to a son, and then he'll take it," he said. "He can't really do much until you make a contract, though."

"What if I don't have a son?" she asked.

"Then he'll just stalk you and your family, until you do," he replied with a shrug.

Sakura shivered at the thought. "I think I'd rather not make a contract," she mumbled.

Naruto smiled. "That's right! It's much better if humans don't make greedy contracts that help the demon race continue!" he said.

She frowned at him. "Naruto, you've been talking about humans like you aren't one…" she pointed out. "How do you know all this stuff?"

He looked down, embarrassed. "Well, I used to be a demon. Used to!" he emphasized as Sakura edged away at the confession.

"Well, why aren't you one anymore?" she asked.

He gave a light cough. "Well, you remember the story about the nine tailed fox that nearly destroyed the village?" She nodded. "That was me."

Now Sakura really did stop in her tracks. The group went on ahead before Naruto grabbed her arm to get her to continue moving. "You nearly destroyed the village?" Her voice was barely audible, but Naruto had no trouble hearing it.

"Yeah, I feel awful about it. That's why I'm a ninja now, to protect the village I nearly destroyed so long ago," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

Sakura studied him carefully. The memory of nearly destroying the village brought a look of complete misery to Naruto's face. He seemed to feel a great deal of guilt about his past. "So, you have demon blood then?" she asked. If he had demon blood, then wouldn't that make him still be a demon, no matter what he was doing with his life now?

Naruto looked offended, like she made an unfounded accusation. "No way! I got rid of that, years ago!" he said, with a slight growl that made her not really believe him.

Sakura was baffled. "What? You can do that? How?" she asked.

"Well, it's this sort of ritual thing. It purifies the demon blood within you, and reverses the appearance-changing process the blood causes. It's a little complicated, but demon blood is inside all the predecessors of the contracted human. So when it's activated, the human, new child of the demon becomes more demon-like. The ritual reverses that, so instead the former demon becomes more human-like. I don't really know how to explain it after that. I mean, I'm not completely human, and I never will be, but at least I'm not a demon," Naruto explained.

The explanation only served to make Sakura more confused than before. She laughed a little. "What so are you an angel then?" she joked lightly.

Naruto nodded. She raised an eyebrow in a silent question. "Ok, so I know humans are taught that the devil is a fallen angel, who creates demons, so angels must become before demons, right? Well, in reality, angels are just purified demons, who believe contracting humans and terrifying them is just wrong. I mean, I'm not saying the stories about God are completely wrong. There could still be a completely different breed of angels, created by God, and a completely breed of demons made from fallen angels. In fact, maybe I'm just the result of a fallen angel, turned demon, and turned back to angel! I don't know. All I know is that demons consider me an angel, and I was once a demon. I've never met any other kind of angel."

Sakura's head was spinning. She was never very religious, but she still felt slightly offended that Naruto was implying that the human stories of God, angels, and demons may very well be false. She sighed. This was just too much information to process in one day.

"So, why can't demons just procreate with each other?" she asked through a throbbing headache.

Naruto sighed. "Well, that's complicated, too. Let's see." He thought about it for a while. "Well, demons can have sex with each other… But their, erm, genetic material is a little parasitic. The two parasites kill each other off, so nothing happens. No baby. Demons can go to a human, and either impregnate her, or be impregnated by him, in the case of an incubus or succubus. Those demons are hated almost as much as angels though, because that creates a vampire. A vampire has no powers from the demon parent, cannot reproduce, and is completely dependant on human blood to survive. Demons view vampires as pathetic and worthless," Naruto said. Sakura nodded, remembering the obvious disgust that Sasuke had treated Tamaki with. "So that's where the contract comes in handy. By making the contract, the demon can put inactive demon blood in the contracted human, and it gets passed down to the children and so on, until the demon comes to activate it. Slowly, the demon blood dominates the human blood. That is how demons 'reproduce', although it isn't really conventional for other living creatures."

Sakura rubbed her head. "This is all too much," she said.

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah, even for me it gets confusing, and I used to be a demon. And it gets even more complicated than that!"

She held up a hand to prevent him from speaking. "Please, no more for today, I think I've had enough." She was too exhausted from the information to be freaked out over Sasuke or Tamaki now. All she wanted to do was to get the day over with so she could rest her brain.

Naruto smiled. "Fine, we'll talk more tomorrow," he laughed.

She groaned. "Oh, please no!" she begged. Naruto laughed again.

"We'll see!"

* * *

><p><strong>There we go! Now you know a little more about the demon world! I hope you didn't fall asleep, or get offended by the religious mentions. I'm not trying to imply that anyone's religion is wrong or anything. This is just my take on demons, as inspired by Paranormal Activity! Although I hate scary movies, I didn't freak out over Paranormal Activities 1 and 2 because I started thinking about how to fill in the plot holes. Now we can get on with the more exciting things!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the delay! I've gotten so caught up in my other story, I just couldn't bring myself to write this one! But after this chapter, I will actually be very busy, and writing will be more difficult.**

**So, I needed to up the rating to an M for this chapter. It's... Violent. I'm not sure how I do describing violence, because it's fairly new to me, but if you're squeamish, I would suggest stopping here.**

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><p><p>

The next couple days, a tense atmosphere built up around the group. Sakura wasn't sure why, but she had a horrible foreboding about what was to come at the end of the mission. Sasuke and Tamaki spent an increasing amount of time together each day, and Naruto started staying up late into the night to make sure Sakura wasn't bitten again. The fatigue showed in the blond's actions, which became less hyperactive and more lagging.

"If you're an angel, why do you need to sleep when Tamaki and Sasuke don't?" Sakura asked him the day before they would arrive at their destination, concerned for his health.

Naruto gave a huge yawn before answering. "It's the reversal of the demon blood progression. It makes me more human-like. I don't really need to eat or anything, but I need a lot of sleep," he said. Then he gave a bright grin. "Don't worry, Sakura! No matter what happens, I'll protect you!"

Sakura gave a tentative smile in return. "Of course, I trust you," she said.

It really wasn't herself she was worried about. From what Naruto said, Sasuke intended to make a contract with her, and then wouldn't harm her until she gave birth to a son. She figured that even if she did make a contract, she simply wouldn't ever have children.

The thought of never having a child made her heart clench painfully. As a kunoichi, she had to be wise about having children with her risky life anyway, but she'd always planned on having one someday.

She told Naruto of her conviction to not get pregnant if she ever made a contract with Sasuke.

He smiled painfully. "Just… Just don't ever make a contract, ok?" he said, sounding doubtful that such a plan would work. "Humans have tried to cheat demons like that before… It ends badly."

Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat. "How does it end badly?" she asked, nervous to hear the answer.

Naruto shook his head. "Just don't do it! Promise me!" he said, looking at her with tired, pleading eyes.

Her heart twisted at seeing the weariness the once-bright blue eyes held—all for her sake. She nodded. "I promise," she agreed.

His face relaxed into a peaceful look. "Good."

Although the dreams never returned after that final night, Sakura found herself unable to sleep. When she did, her dreams were confused, swirling with information and frightening images that gave her headaches when she struggled awake. Naruto was always there for her when she woke up.

"Where's Sasuke?" she asked the first time this happened, in the middle of the night. "And Tamaki?" The two were nowhere to be found.

Naruto shrugged, but he seemed troubled. "I don't know. Somewhere in the forest, maybe. Probably searching for a village for Tamaki to feed," he said.

Sakura looked at him, shocked that he would allow the two to sneak away. "Why didn't you stop them?" she asked, worried for the wellbeing of some nameless villager being drained of blood as she and Naruto spoke.

He sighed heavily. "If I don't let Sasuke take Tamaki to feed sometimes, then the little vampire might go berserk and attack a lot of people," he explained.

She frowned. "Why don't you just kill him? Or Sasuke? That's your job, isn't it?" she asked, feeling sick to her stomach as she imagined her once-precious Sasuke being torn to bits.

Naruto shook his head. "Sakura, vampires are half _human_! And I will not kill a human, no matter how much demon blood they have as well!" he said.

"So angels kill demons, not vampires?" Sakura asked, wondering how the 'protectors of the human race' could let dangerous creatures such as the half-demon vampires roam free.

He shook his head again. "Not all angels think the way I do. Most of them think that anything with the slightest bit of demon blood should be killed. Extremists think that we should also kill the contracted humans, just so they can't bring another demon into the world. Others think we shouldn't kill _at all_, and convert them into angels instead," he explained.

Sakura shivered, imagining being a contracted human, at the mercy of both angels and demons because of a single decision. "That's awful," she whispered.

Naruto nodded solemnly. "It is. That's why I want to protect humans and vampires. It's not their fault that they were born with demon blood," he said.

They sat in silence for a while as Sakura pondered this information. The forest was quiet—too quiet. It increased the foreboding she felt. What would they find once they reached their destination? What was the alleged succubus like? Would she and her demon children attack them once they got there? She shivered again as the chills ran down hr spine.

Another thought occurred to her. "Hey, Naruto," she began.

Naruto didn't look at her, staring off into the forest. "Hmm?"

She briefly wondered if he could see in the dark, before she pushed the thought away and focused on her question. "If a vampire is the offspring of a demon and a human, what is the offspring of an angel and a human?"

He looked at her, a sad look in his eyes. "Angels can't have children, no matter what. The ritual we go through to rid ourselves of the demon blood kills off all reproductive abilities," he said.

Sakura studied Naruto's face. "Did you want to have children?" she asked.

Naruto gave a sad smile and nodded. "Very badly. It hurts to think about not having children someday," he replied.

She nodded, understanding his feelings. "Yeah, it does," she agreed.

* * *

><p>Finally, it was the seventh day. The day Sakura initially thought she would be rid of the annoying brat. Now she wasn't so sure. The sick feeling in her gut told her something was going to happen when they reached their destination. Now that they were almost here, she wanted to turn back immediately.<p>

In the distance, they saw a lone house, just sitting at the edge of a cliff. It was fairly large, and since Sakura knew a large family lived inside, she wasn't surprised. An eerie silence surrounded the area like a suffocating cushion.

The group froze. Sakura looked around to the others. Naruto's eyes were wide, his nostrils flared as if he smelled something terrible. Kakashi looked just as mildly confused as Sakura was.

Tamaki seemed horrified, his eyes fixed on Sasuke in disbelief. Sasuke, on the other hand, was standing casually, with his weight shifted to one leg, looking extremely pleased with himself.

Naruto was the first to recover from whatever the supernatural beings could sense. With a small gasp, as if he had been doused with cold water, he shot forward in the direction of the house.

"Naruto! Stop!" Kakashi called, dashing forward to try and catch the blond.

Sakura stared for a moment, still stunned, but then took off after the two. She could hear Tamaki just behind her, screaming in an unearthly voice that would have chilled her to the bone if she didn't feel so numb with shock.

Her sensei and Naruto were already inside the house for a while by the time Sakura and Tamaki arrived. The door was pushed ajar and she could see Kakashi and Naruto's backs from where she stood. She quickly pushed inside.

Naruto spun around, his eyes widened with horror. "No, Sakura, don't come in!" he said, rushing forward to try and intercept her entrance.

He managed to quickly push her back outside, but it was too late to prevent her from seeing what the house held.

This close, she could smell the horrible stench of blood and decaying flesh. She quickly put a hand over her nose and mouth to keep herself from gagging, and nearly failed.

The sight alone was enough to make her sick to her stomach. In the center of the front room had been the disfigured form of what could have once been a woman. It was nearly unrecognizable now, but not from the multiple slashes and twisted limbs. The "woman" had deep red skin, so red that the dried blood blended in with the color. Her hair was missing in patches, either torn out or missing from natural causes. What remaining hair the corpse had was soaked with caked blood. Broken horns protruded from the bald spots on the head—many horns, covered the head like some kind of spiky helmet.

Dried blood covered the floor around the corpse, and painted the walls and even (she saw when she glanced up to try and avoid the sight) the high ceiling hadn't escaped the carnage. The clawed hands of the dead creature had blood on the ends as well, a sign that "she" struggled before death.

In one corner of the room were several bloody corpses piled haphazardly, all with varying levels of deformations. A short distance away from the pile of tiny corpses—children—was a small baby boy, who looked too human to Sakura. The clothes were soaked with his own blood, ripped open in the center where he had been stabbed to death. The baby had few other wounds, except for two bloody sockets where the eyes had been gouged out.

Tamaki had slipped under Naruto's arms and into the house. "Mother! Mother! No!" he screamed in that ungodly voice.

She heard Kakashi trying to comfort the boy, and imagined that Tamaki was holding onto his mother's mangled corpse for dear life, no allowing Kakashi to separate them.

"That's… That's a demon?" Sakura managed to croak, swallowing back bile that rose in her throat.

Naruto nodded grimly, his chest heaving. "Sasuke killed them," he said, almost inaudibly. Sakura had to strain to hear him.

Speaking of Sasuke, Sakura looked back in the direction they had come. Sasuke was strolling toward the house, looking nonchalant. He had a small triumphant smirk on his face and a daring look in his eyes that seemed to be directly challenging Naruto.

Kakashi came out of the house with a still-screaming Tamaki in his arms. "We should hurry and get back to the village and report this to the hokage," he said, his voice strained from trying to maintain a calm tone.

Naruto wasn't listening. He ran at Sasuke, yelling in anger at the arrogant look on the demon's face. A small ball of energy formed in his hand as he shot forward. Sakura could tell that Naruto intended to kill Sasuke.

"Naruto! No!" she shouted futilely as Naruto shot out his hand.

Sasuke only smirked, and gave a small laugh. He dodged the strike easily, laughing insanely. "What are you upset about? It's your job to kill demons, isn't it?" he asked, his voice carrying over to where Sakura and Kakashi were.

Sakura looked at her sensei for help, but Kakashi seemed uncharacteristically stunned for the moment, watching the fight. She rose to her feet, where she had fallen to her knees after seeing inside the house. What could she do? How could she stop this?

Naruto caught himself before his momentum drove him too far. He spun around and launched himself at Sasuke again, the ball of chakra in his hand glowing more fiercely. "I'll kill you then, damn it!" he shouted.

Sasuke only laughed at Naruto's proclamation. He glanced back, at Tamaki, and crooked a finger in a "come here" motion. The sight, or some invisible force, seemed to cause Tamaki pain.

"No, no, no, I don't want to die! Argh!" Tamaki screamed, clutching his chest in obvious agony.

Sakura could only watch as Tamaki gave in to the painful force, and broke from Kakashi's grip. The small vampire ran forward before either of the two bystanders could stop him, and threw himself between Sasuke and Naruto.

Naruto's hand entered Tamaki's chest and blew the small body to bloody bits.

Everything seemed to freeze. Sakura couldn't let out the scream she felt in her throat. Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what he had done. She remembered that he never wished to kill a vampire.

Naruto dropped to his knees, seemingly unable to comprehend what he had just done. Sasuke smirked triumphantly, and a whistling ball of blue energy formed in his hand.

"You're too green. You can't even kill a worthless half-demon. That's too bad, little hypocritical angel," Sasuke said, then plunged his hand downward.

"Naruto! No!" Sakura screamed in warning, but it was too late.

The blond's head exploded on impact with the attack. Sakura's breath caught. Suddenly, Sasuke was gone.

She spun her head around. "Kakashi-sensei!" she called out in warning, but it was too late. Sasuke was there, and thrust his hand through Kakashi's chest. Warm blood splashed on her face. She could have sworn her heart stopped beating right then.

Sasuke gave her a look of pity and contempt. "You humans are all so weak. I'll be back for you. Have fun with your friends."

And with a final, maniacal laugh, he was gone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Again, sorry for the delay. This chapter was rather hard to write. But here it is! Not giving up on it!**

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><p>Her entire body felt numb. A long time ago, her mind had stopped working altogether. She didn't know how long she'd been running, or if she'd been running at all for that matter. She was on autopilot, unaware or where her body was taking her, if anywhere at all.<p>

The surroundings flew by without her registering that there had been any. In a more sound state of mind, Sakura might have berated herself for her pathetic mental breakdown. She was a kunoichi. This was the exact type of situation she'd been trained to deal with and not lose her mind in.

Unfortunately, her mind was not in such a state. Her mind was blank; it hurt too much to think. If she allowed herself to even look around, and realize where she was, the images would come rushing forth, like a turbulent flood, overwhelming and destroying her fragile mind before she could even begin to comprehend what was happening.

Eventually, Sakura must have fallen asleep out of pure exhaustion, too tired to carry on anymore. She woke up the next day in a daze. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she allowed herself to look around.

She was somewhere in the forest. Where exactly, or how far away from home she was, she had no idea. Sakura bit her lip in anxiety. How was she supposed to get back to the village like this?

The village. Her body tensed as memories rose unbidden to the forefront of her consciousness. She remembered when she graduated from the Academy, a full-fledged ninja, and how proud she was of herself to receive her first Leaf Village headband—proof of her abilities. It was the first time she felt like she was truly worth something, like she didn't need to hide behind Ino anymore.

She remembered the time she'd been assigned to Team 7. How happy she'd been to be on the same squad as Sasuke, convinced that it was an act of God, and proof that her love was true.

Of course, she'd also been upset that she had to deal with the obnoxious Naruto as well, and then that her teacher seemed to be a jerk, but in the end, both Naruto and Kakashi-sensei turned out to be decent people, if not enjoyable company.

Taking a deep breath, she continued to run, crashing recklessly through the brush. She had to get home, and then maybe everything would turn out all right. Maybe everything was just a horrible, horrible dream. Of course it was. Who was she kidding? Demons and angels? The only demons in this world were those like the nine-tailed fox. Sasuke a demon and Naruto an angel? It had to be nothing but a nightmare.

Night fell before she knew it. Her body protested against further movement as she sunk down with her back to a tree. Hunger gnawed at the edges of her stomach, making her groan, but there was no food to be had.

"Tomorrow," she sighed, trying to quiet her stomach's growling with the reassurance. At this pace, Sakura would be at the village by sun down the next day. Thinking about the distance she still needed to cover drew another groan from her. It seemed so far away, and her body felt so weak. She fell over onto her side, closing her eyes.

Sleep would not come.

Sakura couldn't stop thinking about this "nightmare". With her body in as much pain as it was, she couldn't fool herself any longer that this wasn't real. She snapped her eyes open as the images of the last week flashed over her closed eyelids.

As she lay there, her eyes wide open to the darkness edging her vision; she was tortured by the images of her teammates being slaughtered before her very eyes. She remembered the feeling of warm blood being splashed across her skin, blinding her, as she watched Kakashi-sensei being torn apart.

She _watched _it.

The thought brought forth tears, spilling from her unblinking eyes, staining her cheeks and mixing with the blood—her sensei's blood. Blood that didn't have to be spilt. To her knowledge, Kakashi-sensei hadn't been a demon, or an angel, or a vampire, or _anything _that deserved to die in that moment. Gnawing guilt sickened her more than the remembrances of blood and gore and death. Thus, sleep evaded her.

Stronger than anything was the realization that _she could have prevented his death._ Maybe not Naruto's—he'd been so very far away, and so very fast—or even Tamaki's, but Kakashi-sensei had been right there, directly by her side. Worse still, she _knew _Sasuke would go for him.

It was her fault Kakashi's body was back at the house, torn apart with the blood painting the porch a dark, ugly red. She could have done something, anything, to stop the death, or even delay it for the critical second Kakashi-sensei needed to prepare a counter attack.

Yet she hadn't done a thing. All she had done was sit there, screaming uselessly as people—angel, demon, _whatever_—were murdered _directly in front of her._

Protect the weak—the motto of her village, and she'd failed it. She had failed it every time an opportunity arose.

Sakura was worthless as a ninja. She was weak, unable to stop even completely preventable deaths from happening.

Never before had she felt so empty.

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><p><em>The heavy feelings persisted. She felt small, weighed down, next to nothing. Even the horrible guilt was pushed aside by the self-absorbing feelings of discovering her inherent worthlessness.<em>

_ "You still want to try and get stronger by yourself?"_

_ Slowly, Sakura looked up into the triumphant glare of her demon stalker. Sasuke stood over her, crossing his arms over his chest with an arrogant look on his face as he presented himself to her in his earthly disguise for the first time._

_ "Y—you killed them." She thought the one-heartbreaking statement would make her cry again. It didn't. The words resounded in her mind, as if her body was hallowed._

_ Sasuke shrugged. "You could have stopped me," he pointed out casually._

_ She shook her head. "No. I couldn't. I'm…" Her voice broke and she trailed away, breaking eye contact._

_ "You're too weak," he finished bluntly._

_ Again, the words echoed throughout her body, like they no longer held any meaning for her, other than a worldly truth detached from herself. She remained silent and nodded. His words were true. She was weak._

_ Sasuke smirked at her confession. Such an easily manipulated girl. Then again, all humans were the same—find the darkness within their hearts and they fall apart in your hands, to be molded in any way you wished._

_ He knelt beside her, leaning so close that his hot breath tickled her ear as he spoke. "But I can make you strong," he said in a husky voice. She shivered. "You won't be worthless or weak. You'll have power. Power rivaled by no man. All for the price of a soul of someone you don't even know—your first born son. And you can have plenty more children, after all."_

_ She stared at him for a while. In a more stable mindset, she probably would have weighed the pros and cons of the decision, but no thoughts would come to her. Only dumb acceptance of his arguments._

_ "I agree."_

_ Immediately after the words left her mouth, the scene shifted. She was lying, spread-eagled, in the center of a pentagram drawn in blood. Her head, legs, and arms lay in each of the five points. Covering her body, bared of clothing, were various symbols painted in blood (whose blood, she couldn't be sure). A small candle was placed at each of the points her limbs lay in. Sasuke stood at the top of the pentagram, at the point by her head, holding a thick, leather-bound book._

_**"Hoc sanguis meus, ego pro meis dicunt cognatione tua. In pro viribus lectus vel tertia generatione tua filia filium tuum primogenitum. Licet colligere quid necessarium reor,"**__ he chanted in a language she couldn't understand—possibly Latin._

_ As Sasuke reached the end of the chant, the symbols covering her body began to burn. She hissed in pain as her skin was seared by millions of invisible flames, licking at her tender flesh, arching her back in a vain attempt to pull away from the fire she couldn't see. Her muscles twitched and trembled uncontrollably, but other than that, she was unable to move, and forced to endure the pain._

_ Slowly, the blood shrunk and disappeared, absorbed into her skin. The pain disappeared, only to be replaced by a new, pleasant sensation. Her body felt light, her muscles stronger. She felt as if she could fun for weeks, or tear down entire mountains._

_ She looked up at Sasuke, her breath fast and shallow from the ordeal. He smirked and stepped away from the pentagram. When he did, her body suddenly felt heavier, and she had to struggle to keep her eyes open. She felt so tired suddenly, but that didn't make sense. Wasn't this a dream?_

_ "It's done. The contract is made. I'll leave you to sleep now," he said._

_ All she could do was stare at him as her vision gradually faded. Before she descended into complete darkness, she heard him add, "Until morning, then. Good night."_

_ And she succumbed to the dark._

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><p>The morning sun was hot on her skin when she woke up. She was panting, sweat covering her body, her hair sticking to her skin.<p>

What a very vivid dream. She remembered making the contract, all the blood, and the pain—the intense, burning pain. It all felt so real.

Sakura sat up suddenly. What if the dream _was _real? she thought in sudden panic.

She quickly checked her arms and legs for any burns, but there were none. Her skin, while still bloody (with blood that wasn't her own, she reminded herself with a grimace), only had the same bruises and scratches that she had already acquired over the course of the mission. Nothing new.

Sakura sighed in relief that nothing had changed, but she wasn't completely reassured. Something about her body felt different. She felt renewed in a deeper way than a good night's rest could have given her. The terrible hunger was gone (weird, since she hadn't eaten anything), and her muscles felt rested and reinforced, taut and full. She frowned at this discovery, rubbing her arms gingerly, mostly curious of the new sensations it gave her.

"Happy with your new muscles?"

She looked up to see Sasuke sitting on a branch of the tree she'd fallen asleep under. He leapt down, landing gracefully on the balls of his feet. Sakura scrambled to her feet, increasing the distance between them, regarding him warily.

He didn't pay any attention to her caution. "Of course, you wouldn't have them if it wasn't for me and my _encouragement,_" he said with a wicked smirk.

Anger flared in her gut as she remembered the cold-hearted way he'd killed three—no, thirteen—people without even batting an eyelash.

"You bastard!" she screamed, running forward, drawing a fist back to punch him with everything she had.

Sasuke was unfazed. He only watched as she got closer and closer. At the last minute, he dodged, and her hand smashed into the tree.

To her surprise, the tree trunk simply _shattered, _as if it was made of nothing but glass. She watched open-mouthed as the splintered wood rained to the ground, and the rest of the tree crashed to the forest floor, taking several smaller trees out with it. The destruction was immense.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad," Sasuke remarked, sounding much like an artist who was admiring his own handiwork. "But you need to remember one thing _dear._" His eyes were darkly playful as he spat out the sarcastic endearment.

He took the still-astonished Sakura by the shoulders and spun her around so she was facing him. His index finger slowly traveled downward until it rested in the center of her collarbone, at the small dip. A blood-red pentagram was etched into the skin there, a copy of the one that had appeared on the back of Sasuke's right hand.

"You belong to me now."

* * *

><p><strong>Latin Translation- <strong>_**With this blood of mine, I claim your kin as my own. In exchange for power, I get either your first-born son or your third generation daughter. I may collect in any way I deem necessary.**_

**Sorry is the translation/grammar is inaccurate. I simply typed it into Google Translate. I don't speak Latin at all.**

**Phew, now I can get more in depth about the demon world without the info dump in chapter five. Ahaha.**

**Until next time, then!**


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